Police: Oakland County Boy Burned By Bonfire, Concocted Tale About Attack
LYON TOWNSHIP (WWJ) - Authorities say a 12-year-old boy who suffered serious burns while tending to a bonfire over the weekend instructed his friends to lie about how it happened.
Oakland County Sheriff's deputies responded to a 911 call shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday in the 200 block of Grayling Street in Lyon Township.
The caller said his friend had been playing in a nearby park when a stranger threw some type of accelerate on his face.
After conducting numerous witness interviews investigators determined there was no attack. The real story, Sheriff's officials said, is that the boy and his friends were trying to start a bonfire when the victim, hoping to make the fire larger, decided to add some gasoline. When the victim squeezed the bottle, the vapors caught his skin and clothing ablaze.
He was afraid, though, "of the repercussions," Sheriff's officials said, so the boy concocted a story and asked his friends to pass it on to police.
The boy treated at the scene for second and third-degree burns by the Lyon Township Fire Department and transported via EMS to CS Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor for further treatment.
Monday morning, officials said the boy remained hospitalized in "guarded" condition.
His name was not released.
